Welcome to Charity Navigator's Blog!

The team from Charity Navigator, the nation's largest independent charity evaluator and leading donor advocate, shares their thoughts on emerging nonprofit-sector issues and offers tips to better inform your intelligent giving decisions.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Thinking About Volunteering this Summer?

Summer is right around the corner and many people, especially high school and college students, are searching for work experiences to build their professional profiles. The opportunities out there range from paid jobs and internships, to unpaid internships and volunteer positions. Many charities report that they use volunteers. They have become the backbone of the philanthropic community as they help many under-funded and under-staffed charities carry out their programmatic work and advance their missions.

About how valuable is the time we donate to charities? Although it can be hard to quantify the value of donated time, the Independent Sector has recently released its 2015 estimate of the value of one hour donated to charity. The value increased 49 cents from $23.07 in 2014 to an average of $23.56. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, 62.8 million Americans (25.3 percent of the adult population) volunteered in 2014 providing 7.9 billion hours of service valued at $184 billion. The average number of hours Americans volunteered per capita was 32.1.

As you think about donating your time to charity this summer, do your research and check out our Guide To Volunteering for tips on how to make the most of your experience.